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Books for Keeps 222 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 222 - January 2017
BfK 222 January 2017

This issue’s cover illustration is from Margot and Me by Juno Dawson. Thanks to Hot Key Books for their help with this January cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 222 January 2017.

BfK No. 222 Articles

Editorial 222

Predictions for the year ahead from those in education, children's books and libraries
What to read in 2017

Leading children’s editors share their recommendations
What to read in 2017 continued

Leading children’s editors share their recommendations
The books to read in 2017 continued

Leading children’s editors share their recommendations
Windows into Illustration: Laura Carlin

Laura Carlin on The Promise
Authorgraph 222 Juno Dawson

Juno Dawson interviewed by Michelle Pauli
Ten of the Best Children's Books written as Diaries

Children’s books written as diaries chosen by Nikki Gamble
Dissecting Frogs

Elys Dolan on being funny in pictures
Two Children Tell: In Which Pooh Is Introduced To Rebecca And Nicholas

The latest in Virginia Lowe's series on children, literature and language
I Wish I’d Written: Cathryn Constable

The best-selling author of The Wolf Princess and The White Tower series chooses a book that still entrances.
The Bone Sparrow: a contemporary tragedy

An interview with Zana Fraillon
Good Reads 222

Good Reads selected by pupils at Southbrook School, Devon
The evolution of the children’s mystery story

Imogen Russell Williams plays detective
A Carey Variorum

Brian Alderson on Ronald Welch’s action-packed series
AN INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH LAIRD

Elizabeth Laird talks about her new book Welcome to Nowhere
Babette Cole Obituary

Nicholas Tucker remembers the creator of Princess Smartypants and Hair in Funny Places
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH AMY WILSON

An interview with the author of A Girl Called Owl
Classics in Short No. 120 Bevis

Bevis the Story of a Boy

AN INTERVIEW WITH AWARD WINNING TRANSLATOR HELEN WANG

Daniel Hahn interviews Helen Wang, winner of the 2017 Marsh Award for Literature in Translation
Q&A INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE BURGIS

The author answers questions on The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart
AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER EDGE

The author talks about his new book The Jamie Drake Equation.

Editor's Choice

Bone Gap
Laura Ruby
(Faber & Faber)
5

Bone Gap is an astonishing, complex and captivating read. It’s one of those books that’s difficult to put down; you just want to keep reading, savouring the story, to find out what happens.  Set in a tiny village in Illinois...

read more

New Talent

Wing Jones
Katherine Webber
(Walker Books)
4

Wing idolises her brother Marcus. He is the star of the school football team and destined for a scholarship. She herself is a mouse, bullied at school for her mixed race convinced she is no good and longing to be noticed by Aaron. Then tragedy...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 222

  • Under 5s
  • Ages 5-8
  • Ages 8-10
  • Ages 10-14
  • Ages 14+

Under 5s

  • Home in the rain
    Bob Graham
    5

  • Time Now to Dream
    Timothy Knapman
    5

  • A Dot in the Snow
    Corinne Averiss
    4

  • Macavity’s Not There!
    T S Eliot
    4

  • Little Monkey
    Marta Altés
    4

  • Topsy Turvy Animals
    Wes Magee
    3

Ages 5-8

  • A Visit to City Farm
    Verna Wilkins
    5

  • Du Iz Tak?
    Carson Ellis
    5

  • The Journey
    Francesca Sanna
    5

  • Three Little Monkeys
    Quentin Blake
    5

  • The Liszts
    Kyo Maclear
    4

  • Where’s the Baboon?
    Michaël Escoffier
    4

  • Trouble Next Door
    Chris Higgins
    4

  • Zoo Boy and the Jewel Thieves
    Sophie Thompson
    3

  • This Bear, That Bear
    Sian Wheatcroft
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Stone Age: Hunters, Gatherers and Woolly Mammoths
    5

  • A Year Full of Stories
    Angela McAllister
    5

  • Caleb’s Cab
    Sally Chomet
    5

  • The Amazing Adventures of Freddie Whitemouse
    Elizabeth Jane Howard
    4

  • How to Catch a Witch
    Abie Longstaff
    4

  • Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond
    Sam Hearn
    4

  • Trouble Next Door
    Chris Higgins
    4

  • The Fox and the Ghost King
    Michael Morpurgo
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Wed Wabbit
    Lissa Evans
    5

  • The Girl with No Nose
    Georgia Byng
    5

  • Welcome to Nowhere
    Elizabeth Laird
    4

  • Wing Jones
    Katherine Webber
    4

  • Animal! Knowledge Encyclopedia
    John Woodward
    4

  • Life In A Fishbowl
    4

  • The Goldfish Boy
    Lisa Thompson
    4

  • A Girl Called Owl
    Amy Wilson
    4

Ages 14+

  • Girl Detached
    Manuela Salvi
    5

  • Bone Gap
    Laura Ruby
    5

  • A Quiet Kind of Thunder
    Sara Barnard
    5

  • The One Memory of Flora Banks
    Emily Barr
    5

  • Orangeboy
    Patrice Lawrence
    4

  • Our Chemical Hearts
    Krystal Sutherland
    4

  • And a happy New Year?
    Holly Bourne
    4

  • Unconventional
    Maggie Harcourt
    3

BfK News

STRUAN MURRAY AND HIS EDITOR BEN HORSLEN WIN THE 2021 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

Branford Boase Award logo

Struan Murray and his editor Ben Horslen have been named winners of the 2021 Branford Boase Award for the year’s outstanding debut novel for children for Orphans of the Tide.

read more...
2021 WATERSTONES CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE WINNER

Elle McNicoll has been named Overall Winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2021 for her debut novel A Kind Of Spark. Now in its seventeenth year, the Prize consists of £5,000 and the promise of ongoing commitment to the winners’ writing and illustrating careers, making it one of the most valuable and prestigious children’s book awards in the UK.

read more...
SCHOLASTIC UK ANNOUNCE LOLLIES 2022 SHORTLIST OF FUNNIEST BOOKS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Michael Rosen, children’s novelist, poet and former Children’s Laureate, today announced the shortlist for the 2022 Laugh Out Loud Awards (The Lollies). The Lollies, created by Scholastic UK, celebrate the funniest children’s books and this will be the fifth year of the awards after a hiatus in 2021.

read more...
THE 2021 UKLA WINNERS

The 2021 UKLA Awards, the only national awards judged by class teachers, will always be remembered as the year when the entire judging process had to be conducted online, with the judging panel only meeting and discussing the titles virtually. Yet despite this the impassioned discussions demonstrated yet again the impact that quality texts can have upon the teacher judges and the students in their classes.

read more...
CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY AWARD WINNERS 2021

The winners of this year’s CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, were revealed today. Both winning books were announced at a virtual, daytime event, hosted by University Challenge Star and author Bobby Seagull and livestreamed from The British Library.

read more...
SCHOOL LIBRARIAN OF THE YEAR 2020/21 ANNOUNCED

SLA logo

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PATRICE LAWRENCE NAMED WINNER OF 2021 JHALAK PRIZE AWARD

Patrice Lawrence is the winner of the inaugural Jhalak Children’s and Young Adult Prize for her YA novel, Eight Pieces of Silva.

Jhalak Prize logo

read more...
THE 2021 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST

The shortlist for the 2021 Little Rebels Award has been revealed and it is the longest in the award’s history.

Now in its 9th year, the Little Rebels Award celebrates children’s fiction which challenges stereotypes, promotes social justice and advocates for a more peaceful and fairer world.

read more...
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2021 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

Klaus Flugge Prize logo

read more...
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2021 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

Branford Boase Award logo

read more...
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